My online talk next month, with a special introduction from Stephen Fry.
Feb 10 from 7pm to 8:30pm GMT
Sign up using the link in my Linktree in my bio.
@andyphilosophy and Josh Finan on @bbc Breakfast this morning, discussing 'Waiting for the Out' - the TV adaptation of Andy's memoir 'The Life Inside'.
Andy eloquently explains the feelings of loss, isolation and social stigma which can be suffered by children with a family member and/or parent in prison. We are delighted 'Waiting for the Out' has been so well recieved, and is shining a light on the distinct impacts of having a parent in prison on the national broadcaster.
Andy is a member of our adult lived experience group of adults who had a parent in prison as a child, and also faciliated a workshop at our Parental Imprisonment Lived Experience Conference last November, alongside @chef_wife_jeffers , @caronbrown15 , @llvdr_ , @josh_ffw , @justjoannexx , @natashaharris_ Harris & @simplygr33k
Waiting for the Out is available to watch in full on the BBC iPlayer.
"In a place where you are treated like cattle, it is very easy to forget that you have a mind."
@andyphilosophy 's father, brother and uncle spent time behind bars. Now he goes into prisons to teach philosophy. And his book has been turned into a BBC One drama that deserves all the 5* reviews.
My interview is in @Telegraph . Link in bio. Waiting For The Out is on iPlayer now. @sisterglobal
Join us on Monday, October 6, for the next Kant's Cave!
Andy West has taught philosophy in prisons since 2016. Along the way he has discussed big ideas with jailhouse stoics, rebels and radicals. Each of them in their own way searching for a way to be free whilst being banged up. In this workshop, he will share stories from his work and ask us to consider ‘Is it the stoic, the rebel or the radical who is the most free?’
Andy’s book The Life Inside (Picador 2022) has been adapted into a six part BBC drama due to air in 2026.
This event is sponsored by the Royal institute of Philosophy.
PFA is currently holding Kant's Cave meetings upstairs at the Two Chairmen, 39 Dartmouth Street, SW1H 9BP, with Zoom option for those who are not able to join in person, every first Monday of the month. Join us for more great talks and discussion! All welcome, link available when you sign up via Meetup - see pfalondon.org for details.
A first look at the BBC adaptation of my book. Out in early 2026. Huge gratitude for all of the talented and hardworking people who have got us here.
@sisterglobal@bbcone
Filming is underway
I’m so thankful to the writers, directors, producers, actors and everyone involved in adapting The Life Inside. They have brought extraordinary creative and moral imagination to the stories in the book. We all hope to make a series that goes beyond the cliches about prisons and the families inside them and that touches people either side of the wall.
TOMORROW, [In]Reality, starting 3:00PM, 4 incredible minds - author Andy West, artist Dom Bouffard, dancer Paris Crossley, and soprano Leila Alexander- will come together for the 5th and final event of @unreliable__witness at @gallery46whitechapel
3:00 PM - acclaimed author Andy West will present and discuss with Dom Bouffard and the public his storytelling and humane philosophical questioning of inherited trauma following imprisonment, offering new insights into the failing prison system and the complex realities tied to it.
4:00 PM - Dom Bouffard and Paris Crossley come back together for an improvisation performance, this time joined by Soprano Leila Alexander.
5:00 PM - join us in the garden for some refreshments in what must be London’s hottest weekend of the year
All our events are free!
My book was a question on a daytime quiz show @itvchase This made my mum the most proud of me she has ever been. I hope that means she will buy my book one day.
The Chinese translation of my book says it is "The philosophical Shawshank Redemption" - my mum's favourite film.
I now have a camera! It's been a great way to open my senses. It's so fun to play and fool around - an insurance against the white knuckled seriousness that can come with writing about prisons.
I was delighted to write for @guardian and @evening.standard give talks at @instituteofartandideas and speak with @abc and My Unlived Life.
Congrats to Wendy Joseph for winning the CWA Dagger Award. I will buy your book for my mum this Christmas.
I’ve had so many interesting conversations over the last couple of months, with Michael Rosen on the BBC, Nigel Warburton in Blackwells Oxford, the good people at Malvern Festival of Ideas, Dom Conlon in Manchester and a room full of prison activists from YOPE in Amsterdam. It’s so heartening to see The Life Inside selling well too. x
![TOMORROW, [In]Reality, starting 3:00PM, 4 incredible minds - author Andy West, artist Dom Bouffard, dancer Paris Crossley, and soprano Leila Alexander- will come together for the 5th and final event of @unreliable__witness at @gallery46whitechapel3:00 PM - acclaimed author Andy West will present and discuss with Dom Bouffard and the public his storytelling and humane philosophical questioning of inherited trauma following imprisonment, offering new insights into the failing prison system and the complex realities tied to it.4:00 PM - Dom Bouffard and Paris Crossley come back together for an improvisation performance, this time joined by Soprano Leila Alexander.5:00 PM - join us in the garden for some refreshments in what must be London’s hottest weekend of the yearAll our events are free!](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6861156771635532106040_0_2f9876138281f14504cdf6945830828a.jpg?o=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&h=55697d20abfb764a838f294eda846233)
